Sunday, January 28, 2018: Is God’s Presence Your Daily Priority?

“Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.” Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:2–5)

The book of Haggai is God’s message to a remnant of Israel who returned to their homeland after a decades-long exile in Babylon. Now home, they got right to work re-building a bustling society filled with nice homes and active businesses.

Yet God was not pleased with them.

Years before, when Israel was taken into exile, the Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:9). The temple was Israel’s place of worship—the sign of God’s presence among them.

Though a remnant had now returned and had been in the land for some time, the temple was still in ruins, revealing that the people’s agenda had been prioritized over God’s presence. As a result, they missed out on His blessing and failed to thrive in the land (1:6).

Yet through Haggai, God invited them to repent and prioritize His presence, which they did; and they soon began re-building the temple. Thus God poured out His glory and blessing upon His people, and they began to thrive once again.

We can be sure that God wants to do the same for us this Sunday. He is calling us to make His presence our priority in life, so that we too can experience His glory and blessing when we gather.

Jesus said, “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33). Is there anything in your life that has taken priority over His presence, His Kingdom? Take this opportunity to repent of that, devoting yourself fully to Christ. Pray that He would help LifePoint Church to prioritize His presence each day—to seek His Kingdom first, so that we might experience the fullness of His glory and blessing as we worship Him together.